Panama City event to honor late artist Matty Jankowski

Wednesday

PANAMA CITY — The bimonthly Artists Showcase and Songwriters Concert on Friday will be a special memorial to Matty Jankowski, a longtime fixture of the area arts community who passed away in January.

"Floriopolis had launched the Songwriter Concert series last year to feature three local songwriters performing their original songs while sharing the stage with each other," explained artist Heather Parker, founder of the Floriopolis studio and gallery in St. Andrews. "With a limited number of seats available, the evenings had a private concert feel and intimate mood to them. Since the hurricane, Floriopolis had to relocate — thankfully not too far, to a building down the street and around the corner. We're thrilled that Tim Parrish still wants to organize the concerts and that we still have plenty of local singer/songwriters to fill the year."

The event will be from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at the St. Andrews Civic Club, 2629 W. 10th St. in Panama City. Matty Jankowski's artwork will be on display, and artist Tesa Burch will do some readings from one of Matty's favorite books in his honor. Songwriters Cody J. Bennett, Christina Christian and Anthony Peebles will perform original music, and there will be food and drink served. Anyone who owns a piece of Jankowski's art and would like to showcase it for the event can bring it along or drop it off before the event.

Floriopolis is requesting a $20 per ticket donation in advance ($25 at the door) with proceeds going to an as-yet-undetermined dedication to the artist. Seating is limited and advance ticket purchases are encouraged.

"Matty influenced many local artists with his innovative ideas and abnormal (to Panama City) approach to what art is and what it can be," Parker said. "He certainly influenced the development of Floriopolis, even before Floriopolis was a thing. We're inviting anyone that has a piece of Matty's art to bring it Friday night. Tesa Burch will do a reading, some guests will speak, our singers will sing, and we'll all revel in the gift of knowing Matty and how he brought his piece of New York life to us, and how we all were given the opportunity to grow as artists because of him and his perception of the world."

The Artists Showcase and Songwriters Circle Series is an ongoing series of events occurring every other month in St. Andrews. Information on upcoming shows will be announced on the Floriopolis Facebook and Instragram accounts. Sales of art and literary works will begin at the next event in April, leaving this one dedicated to Jankowski.

"We'd already had our singers chosen when we made the decision to feature Matty as our showcased artist," Parker said. "Personally, I'm intrigued by how the night will go, and how being introduced to Matty's spirit and creativity may influence the three singers, who did not know him before his passing, and their performance that night and onward."

The next Artists Showcase and Songwriter Concerts will be April 12-14 during "The Great Create" event; then again on June 14, Aug. 16, Oct. 18, Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 1 during a second "The Great Create" event. All will be at the St. Andrews Civic Club across from Oaks By The Bay Park. Parking is off 10th Street, with the entrance on the east side of the building facing the Truesdale Playground. For more information, visit Facebook.com/Floriopolis.

Parker said moving the organization into the Civic Club mean the loss of its gallery and market space — the visual and literary art component. That meant a loss of income streams for the visual and literary artists, which meant some of them could no longer make a living locally. The bimonthly concert and art exhibition was designed to help the artists to avoid having to move away after the hurricane.

"We lengthened each concert by an hour, improved snacks and drinks, and added an Artist Showcase to each Songwriter Concert," Parker said. "Guests will be able to meet three local singer/songwriters, one visual artist, and one literary artist at each event. And everyone will have their work, product and goods for sale for that night. We hope being a featured artist — having a deadline and audience — helps motivate and inspire our artists to start painting, writing and producing again."

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